# PCD Deployment Fails with Error Etcd Leader Changed

## Problem

Self Hosted PCD Management Plane deployment sometimes fails with `Error from server: etcdserver: leader changed`

## Environment

* <code class="expression">space.vars.self\_hosted\_product\_name</code> Virtualization - v2025.4 and Higher
* <code class="expression">space.vars.self\_hosted\_product\_name</code> Kubernetes - v2025.4 and Higher
* Component: etcd

## Cause

The leader node in an etcd cluster handles all write requests and coordinates data replication. If the leader experiences high CPU usage, memory pressure, or Disk I/O bottlenecks due to heavy load or insufficient resources, it may become unresponsive or slow, leading to other nodes initiating a leader election.

## Diagnostics

During execution, `airctl` commands fail at a specific step, with logs explicitly showing: `Error from server: etcdserver: leader changed`

This error is always prefixed by the step failure message.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Logs" %}

```go
$ cat airctl-logs/airctl.log
INFO  recovering configuration state...                                   
ERROR   Restoring consul/vault and original state files...               
fatal	error: failed to restore consul for region: failed to add key customers/[CUSTOMER_UUID]/regions/[REGION_UUID]/services/preference-store/cfg/enableAuth in consul: failed to put KV customers/[CUSTOMER_UUID]/regions/[REGION_UUID]/services/preference-store/cfg/enableAuth:true to consul: exit status 1 - Error from server: etcdserver: leader changed
.. snip..
ERROR	fatal error: failed to back up: failed to backup region: failed to backup consul: failed to generate consul snapshot: exit status 1 - Error from server: etcdserver: leader changed
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

## Resolution

[Uninstall the current PCD](https://platform9.com/docs/private-cloud-director/private-cloud-director/uninstall-self-hosted-deployment) Management Plane and retry the PCD Management Plane Deployment.